Behind the Scenes(49)

“Sydney is from Manteo,” Eryk points out. “And she liked it.”

This conversation is going into dangerous territory, and there’s so much tension growing in the room that in about twenty seconds, it will be impossible to move around. I stand up and loudly clap my hands. “Let’s drink some alcohol.”

Eryk shimmies off to the kitchen. “Don’t mind if I do.”

As soon as Brendan leaves thirty minutes later, I unleash myself on Eryk.

“Why are you still being a jerk to him?” I demand.

Eryk kicks his heels off and sits down at the other end of the couch. “He was judging me.”

“No, he wasn’t. He was just being honest. He’s never seen drag before. It’s different.”

“Now you sound like him.”

Crystal speaks up from in the kitchen. “It kind of seems like he was judging the whole thing.”

“What does it matter anyway?” Eryk asks. “You’re not hooking up with him.”

“God,” I seethe. “Why is everything about hooking up? Why is everything about sex? Why can’t we just have normal, deep relationships with people and forget about the sex?!”

Crystal’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Calm down, little lady,” Eryk says. “Before we have to go and get some smelling salts.”

“I don’t want to calm down,” I mutter. “I’m mad. Everything sucks.”

“Your ex-boyfriend sucks.”

I bare my teeth at him. “Just shut up for once, please.”

“Why are you being such a bitch?”

My hands curl into fists. “Wow, Eryk. You’re really one to talk. You should be disgusted with the way you talk to Brendan.”

“Guys, just stop,” Crystal groans. “You’ve been fighting non-stop lately.”

We both quiet down, falling into a surly silence. I haven’t told anyone about what happened yesterday in the office. I don’t know what to make of it myself, and I’m still waiting to see what Mr. Mulroney meant by saying he would try to treat me like a person.

I’m afraid my worst fears have been confirmed and he’s going to steer clear of me for good. That possibility is putting me in an awful mood.

I want to regret every action that’s led me up to this point, but I can’t. I told him what I wanted, and I need to stick to my guns.

No matter what sort of shoot outs that brings.





CHAPTER EIGHT


He’s gone all week. Sometimes I catch myself staring at his closed office door like he’s suddenly going to open it up and walk out. Dana tells us he went to New York to check on the new production there, but I almost don’t believe it.

Simon Mulroney has a way of ducking out when things don’t go his way. That much about him isn’t a mystery.

The week stretches on. Friday night is Eryk’s show. That morning, I’m sitting in the office browsing Tumblr on my phone — because I’ve decided if you can’t beat ‘em you should join ‘em — when I get a text from a strange number.

It’s a Los Angeles area code, but other than that nothing about the digits is familiar.

I’m coming back at four. Please tell Dana to arrange for the car to pick me up.

“Oh,” I say to myself, suddenly realizing who it is.

“What?” Dana asks from across the desk.

I show her the phone. “I guess this is Mr. Mulroney.”

She pushes her glasses further up her nose and reads the text. “Yeah, it is… hm. Weird.”

She goes back to her computer.

“What?” I ask.

“He could have just called me.”

My eyes drop down. Yeah, he could have. I didn’t know he even had my cell phone number. I send him a text back.

I told her.

Less than a minute later, the phone buzzes.

Thanks. See you soon.

My chest swells as I read the text. My thumbs hover over the keypad, wanting to send another text — any text. I don’t, of course. I slip the phone into my bag on the floor, then kick the entire thing a few feet away in case my thumbs decide to cause trouble.

I should know better than to read into a simple text message… but he seems to be making a point to reach out to me and be friendly. And this, after an entire work week of me thinking he might not ever want to see my face again.

Five minutes pass and I cave, checking my cell just to see if he texted to let me know if he needs anything else.

There are no messages. I hate how disappointed the blank screen makes me feel.

Since Mr. Mulroney is coming back at the end of the day, Chuck and Daniel wait around. When five o’clock arrives, he still isn’t there.

Daniel sighs. “He could bother to tell us he’s not coming back.”